The present invention relates generally to the use of statistics to measure the performance and performance capabilities of a process, and more particularly, to automated electronic reporting of the real-time results of statistical calculations intended to indicate future performance.
There have been many improvements toward attaining quality goals of any business, and a large number of those relate to manufacturing facilities and methods. For example, the quality of automobiles has steadily increased over the years in part due to improved methods for increasing the quality of the manufacturing process.
A focus on shipment timeliness quality can also improve the delivery of products or services to the customer. Customer satisfaction can hinge on basic deliverables such as on-time installation, or quick phone response when called for technical assistance. This is also true for the very simplest of business tasks like delivering the product or service when the customer was told to expect it.
In manufacturing, for example, process performance has traditionally been measured by sampling the output to ensure compliance within the specification limits. A sample of the output is taken and analyzed at the source to determine how the process is working and the adjustments that should be made if deemed necessary. This method has a number of drawbacks, not the least of which is timeliness of the information.
Process capability is provided by some well-known measurements in the art of statistics. Some generally known and accepted measurements for process capability Include: Z long-term, Z short-term, Z bench, CPK, CP, sigma value, and defects per million opportunities. Each of these values provides a measure of the capability of a process. That is, the ability of the process to produce quality output over time. Given up-to-date information, a manager or process-owner can make adjustments or further investigate ways to improve the process thereby improving the quality of the output.
It would therefore be desirable to have an electronic system able to provide information indicative of process capability on a real-time, on-demand basis.